A. Field of the Invention
The invention generally concerns the use of lanthanide oxides to reduce sintering of supported catalysts during use.
B. Description of Related Art
Catalysts are oftentimes used in the chemical industry to change the rate of a given chemical reaction—they can make the desired chemical reaction more favorable or likely to occur. Further, the efficiency of a catalyst can be improved by increasing its surface area, which provides for more reaction sites during the chemical reaction process.
Notably, however, catalysts are oftentimes subjected to elevated temperatures (e.g., greater than 700° C. or 800° C.), such as in syngas production or methane reformation reactions. These temperatures can lead to the agglomeration or sintering of the catalytic materials used. This can result in surface area reduction during the reaction, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the catalyst during the reaction to complete failure of the catalyst/catalyst deactivation.
While some attempts have been made to reduce sintering at elevated temperatures, one of the more effective solutions is to simply increase the amount of catalyst used at the start of the reaction process or to continuously re-supply the catalyst during the reaction. This can increase the costs associated with the chemical reaction process as well complicate the reaction procedures.